This is Science, too!

This week, from the world of labcoats, forceps and retort:-

• A submarine probing life at the bottom of the ocean was subjected to a brutal attack by an octopus. Scientists attribute it to ageing:-
  "Old octopuses become what we call senescent, or senile... and sometimes their actions are very inappropriate."
  Jim Cosgrove, Royal British Columbia Museum

That's not ageing. Believe me, that's an anti-American Octopusic Fundamentalist opposed to Freedom and Democracy.


• The London Planetarium will now present the kind of stars folk really wanna see, and not some obscure objects in the nightsky that a bunch of crazy astronomers get obsessed about.
  "Please note that from now on, Orion's Belt will be replaced by Chantelle's Thong."

Do we get to see the Paris Hilton video there?


• Leah Whigham of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, now reports that its a virus, and not Fritolays that causes obesity. Of course, that's true only for chickens, not humans.
  "You cannot ethically... infect humans and see if they get fat.", she says.

What did we get Guantanamo Bay rigged up for, then?

Sources: CBC, The Guardian, The Telegraph


• Nature reports that Russia's state-owned space company says that the nation plans to establish a Moon base and mine lunar helium-3 as a fuel for fusion reactors.

So like, you're getting genuine moonlight when you switch a bulb in Russia! And for a fact, the moon gives off reflected sunlight, so Russian moonlight's actually better than the real thing!

Nature, 9 February, 2006